Christopher Hawthorne: SoCal's 405 Freeway is a Hodgepodge of DesignLos Angeles Times (CA)July 30--Imagine if the ancient Romans, late in their empire-building days, had suddenly forgotten how to design aqueducts. Or if Chicago started filling the Loop with a collection of ungainly skyscrapers, each more of an eyesore than the last. Something similar -- a sad reversal of infrastructural fortune -- is happening in Southern California. A region once synonymous with freeways no longer ...

07/02/2015

A Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Trail for Wisconsin?IsthmusProposed Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Trail will guide tourists and architecture aficionados A special state roadway designation may soon help tourists celebrate the architectural wonders of Frank Lloyd Wright. The initiative is part of the pending Wisconsin biennial budget. "The proposed Frank Lloyd Wright Heritage Trail, if passed, would promote tourism, history, architecture and the beauty ...

07/29/2015

Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple Gets $23M RestorationChicago Tribune (IL)July 29--The Rev. Emily Gage chose not to take what happened shortly after she started at Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple as an omen. "Right after I began, in the fall of '08, a giant piece of ceiling fell down right above the pulpit," she said. This compromise of the building's integrity did not happen during a Sunday service. No one was hurt. And life with Unity Temple, Wright's modernist ...

07/29/2015

Rahm Emanuel Appoints New Members to City Landmarks PanelChicago Tribune (IL)July 29--Addressing criticism that he had eroded the authority of Chicago's landmarks commission, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday named two architects to the panel, which later this year is expected to consider permanent protected status for Marina City. The architects named to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks are Juan Moreno, whose designs include the El Centro branch of Northeastern ...

07/26/2015

Teens Redesign Downtown El Paso at Summer CampEl Paso Times (TX)July 26--A Downtown El Paso with buildings and skyscrapers that feature rooftop terraces, aquariums and watch towers with shops and cafes are what some high school students have envisioned during an architecture summer camp. The CoAMP Architecture Academy is a summer camp offered through a joint partnership between the Texas Tech University and El Paso Community College architectural programs. ...

07/29/2015

Tokyo Olympic Chief Apologizes to IOC for Scrapping Stadium DesignCanadian Press DataFileKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Japanese organizers apologized to the IOC on Wednesday over the scrapping of the original plans for the Olympic stadium and delivered assurances that the new venue will be ready in time for the 2020 Games. The International Olympic Committee, meanwhile, said it would work with Japan on the new project to make sure "there are no surprises" this time. Earlier this month, ...

07/28/2015

Chicago Students Dig for Architectural Treasures in Gold CoastChicago Tribune (IL)July 28--On Tuesday afternoon in a driveway next to a historic home in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, several students from various colleges dug and sifted for buried relics of those who lived about 100 years ago. The students are in their last week of a four-week summer excavation on the eastern side of the Charnley-Persky House at 1365 N. Astor St., designed in 1892, and one of the few ...

07/28/2015

No Retractable Roof for Japan's Olympic StadiumJapan Economic NewswireThe Japanese government intends to give up on putting a retractable roof on the new stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as it is reviewing the main venue's building plan after scrapping the earlier plan due to soaring costs, sources close to the matter said Tuesday. Without the retractable roof, total construction costs will be held down and it will also allow the stadium to be completed by ...

07/28/2015

Hadid's Firm Offers Support for New Olympic StadiumJapan Economic NewswireThe firm of Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, whose design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stadium was scrapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe due to soaring costs, said Tuesday it has offered support for a review of the venue building plan in a letter sent to Abe. "Starting the design process again does not tackle any of the fundamental issues that have led to an increased estimate in budget for ...

07/27/2015

Steve Lackmeyer: Demolition of OKC'S Union Bus StationDaily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)July 27--Downtown's Union Bus Station is the first building to be torn down among nine set to disappear as site work begins for the future 499 W Sheridan tower. It was the only planned demolition on the block bounded by Main Street, Sheridan, Hudson and Walker Avenues to be challenged in court, although the challenge was unsuccessful. The demolition by Midwest Wrecking started Saturday, one ...

07/27/2015

Kobi Karp Making Waves in Miami's Evolving Design SceneMiami Herald (FL)July 27--Kobi Karp moved to Miami in the late 1980s to work as an architect because of its prime location -- near the Caribbean, that is. "It was Miami Vice and Scarface days; there was really no work being done here," said Karp, 52, who started out with British firm Lane Pettigrew Wood Karp on Lincoln Road. What a difference two decades makes. These days, the more than 80 employees who make ...

07/27/2015

Zaha Hadid Collaborates With Musician Pharrell Williams on Adidas Shoe CollectionDesignMENA.comZaha Hadid is collaborating with musician Pharrell Williams on his Adidas "Supershell" collection. Hadid, who has been named "Queen of the curve" by many, she will be incorporating these curves on the shoe's rubber toe cap. Colour-wise, the Supershells will be offered in both black and white. Of the alliance, Williams said, "I'm a huge fan of Zaha's, I've always been. She's one of the most ...

07/26/2015

Inga Saffron: Modernist/Art Deco Architect Ralph Bencker's Embellished DoorsPhiladelphia Inquirer (PA)July 26--Historians will debate whether Ralph Bencker was a modernist or Art Deco architect. Like so many practitioners in the 1920s and '30s, he combines the sensibility of both in his work, which can be found throughout Philadelphia. But his best-known design, the R.W. Ayer Building on Washington Square, now the Ayer condos, is distinguished by its emphasis on sculptural embellishment. ...

07/24/2015

Inga Saffron: Reviving Religious Buildings Takes CreativityPhiladelphia Inquirer (PA)July 24--Hoping to dissuade the Historical Commission earlier this month from landmarking Fishtown's beloved St. Laurentius church, parish attorney Michael V. Phillips reeled off a litany of reasons that its preservation was doomed to fail. The 19th-century building is no longer a working church. Its brownstone facade requires expensive repairs. If the Polish Catholic church received city ...

07/23/2015

Zaha Hadid Wants to Play Part in New Olympic Stadium PlanJapan Economic NewswireIraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid still wants to be involved in the construction planning for the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Japan Sports Council revealed on Thursday. Jim Heverin, a director from Hadid's firm, conveyed the wishes on a visit to Japan, the JSC said, a little under a week after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scrapped an existing building plan over its ...

07/23/2015

Three Years Later, London's Olympic LegacyGuardian WebSome of the starkest images from the financial fall of Greece have been of its 2004 Olympic Games buildings : abandoned stadiums and peeling paint telling tales of broken promises and soured dreams. Whatever else might be said about London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park three years after the 2012 Olympics, it is no tumbleweed vista. The broader issue, though, is whether it is helping to ...

07/23/2015

Blair Kamin: Trump Buildings Are Latest Stop on Chicago 'Disaster Tour'Chicago Tribune (IL)July 23--Prompted by Donald Trump's rants about Mexican immigrants and his comments questioning Sen. John McCain's status as a war hero, readers have emailed me with a question: Is now the time for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to force the bloviating, bombastic New Yorker to take down the ugly sign on his Chicago riverfront tower? My answer: Forget it. The city approved the sign and for the foreseeable ...

07/21/2015

Designing for Happiness in Santa MonicaGuardian WebThose who envision themselves living in Santa Monica, the wealthy and politically progressive coastal enclave west of Los Angeles, no doubt envision themselves living happily there. It would seem to have everything: miles of coastline with beaches open to all, the striking Santa Monica mountains just to the north, plenty of equally striking southern-Californian architecture (its many celebrity ...

07/21/2015

The Guardian [OPINION]: Japan’s "Heave-Ho" of Olympic Stadium A Win for the PeopleGuardian (UK)The Japanese have decided to scrap their planned Olympic stadium, designed by Zaha Hadid. Costs have ballooned, the public disliked it and the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, listened to the “voice of the people” and gave it the heave-ho. Hooray. How refreshing – what a sensible decision. Better still, they’ve been mocking Hadid’s design, recasting it as a hairdryer, a spacecraft, a footbath, a ...

07/22/2015

Tokyo Governor Promises Cooperation on Olympic StadiumJapan Economic NewswireTokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe, who has been critical of the way the central government has handled the project to build the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics in the capital, pledged Wednesday to cooperate over the construction of the centerpiece as he met with Olympics minister Toshiaki Endo. In his first talks with Endo since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last Friday he will send the original ...

07/20/2015

No Comeback in Sight for Midcentury A-frame HousesTimes Union (Albany, NY)July 20--Many midcentury styles have made huge comebacks -- gingham, cat-eye glasses, fringe and the kind of furniture found on the "Mad Men" set. But not A-frames. This triangular-shaped style is the architectural equivalent of polyester bell bottoms -- they're not coming back. Architecture expert Virginia Savage McAlester spends just a few paragraphs of "A Field Guide to American Houses" ...

07/21/2015

Construction to Start Early 2016 on Japan's Olympic StadiumJapan Economic NewswireJapan will start construction of a new centerpiece stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next January or February, sports minister Hakubun Shimomura said Tuesday. After crafting a new plan, including costs and functions needed, for the national stadium by this fall, Japan will choose a new design and builder through an international competition in a bid to complete the stadium by ...

07/21/2015

Steve Lackmeyer: Sculptures Once Again Stand Guard Over The Oklahoman OfficesDaily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)July 21--About six months have passed since The Oklahoman moved back downtown to 100 W Main, but for various reasons, the address didn't seem real yet -- not complete -- at least not until this week. Maybe it was the ongoing construction on all sides of our new home at Century Center. The landscaping wasn't completed until a couple of weeks ago, and the construction crews were still a constant ...

07/19/2015

Blair Kamin: Chicago's Landscape ArchitectureChicago Tribune (IL)July 19--Given its preeminent role in the birth of the skyscraper, Chicago is often called a laboratory of modern architecture. This summer, the city has put on new mantle: It has become a nationally significant testing ground for public space. Eleven years after the triumph of Millennium Park, with its luminous Bean and raucous Crown Fountain, Chicago has dedicated three major public spaces ...

07/19/2015

Report Finds Marin City's Golden Gate Village Worthy of Landmark StatusMarin Independent Journal (CA)July 19--A new architectural analysis of the Golden Gate Village housing complex says the buildings should be eligible for federal and state historical landmark status. The assessment comes as Marin Housing Authority looks at the 55-year-old, 296-unit complex and decides a course of action for its future. Golden Gate Village needs $16 million in repairs, and federal funds to do that work are ...